File:Flooding in Australia (MODIS 2021-02-11).jpg

English: A rain-filled tropical low slowly skirted the coast of Western Australia in early February 2021, dumping heavy precipitation which led to flooding across the region. The Gascoyne Region was particularly heavily hit, with the Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) quoted as reporting that 176 mm (6.9 in) of rain fell in Carnarvon in 24 hours on February 5. On that day, flooding was reported along the Gascoyne River at several locations. The Floodlist website reported that dozens of people were rescued from the floods in the Gascoyne regions, including some by helicopter.

On February 10, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired a false-color image of flooding in the Gascoyne region of Western Australia. This type of false color image uses infrared and visible light (Bands 7,2,1) to enhance the contrast between water and vegetation. Here surface water appears blue while deep water appears inky-blue, vegetation looks green, and non-vegetated land appears tan. The flooded rivers and ephemeral streams clearly stand out against the semi-arid landscape.

While a single image gives a clear view of the scene at a single point in time, it often is informative to be able to compare the changes in the same area over time. Thanks to the NASA Worldview App, the impressive extent of the flooding can be appreciated by comparing this Aqua MODIS image acquired on February 10 to a previous image collected by Aqua MODIS on January 20, 2021—before the rains. To view the comparison image, click here

The NASA Worldview app provides a satellite's perspective of the planet as it looks today and as it has in the past through daily satellite images. Worldview is part of NASA’s Earth Observing System Data and Information System. EOSDIS makes the agency's large repository of data accessible and freely available to the public.